


Love is Blind

by kinneyb



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 12:44:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4138029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kinneyb/pseuds/kinneyb
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Reid starts having new problems with his eyesight, he desperately tries hiding it out of fear of being fired, but when Morgan notices something is bothering him he won't let it go without a fight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love is Blind

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to work on something new because the idea came to me and why the hell not? It will have multiple chapters but I'm not sure quite how many yet. I got the idea from the fact Reid canonically has cataracts (though it's rarely mentioned) and it's an eye condition that can worsen over time.  
> Hope you enjoy!

Reid had started noticing something was wrong about three months ago. 

At first it started out as a minor problem - when he tried reading everything would be a blurry mess of words until he narrowed his eyes for which then the words would finally make sense - but since then it’d only been becoming more troublesome. Just looking at one of the agents while sitting in the briefing room was a challenge now because they appeared as nothing but a rough outline of themselves.

Reid had bought new glasses but those only did so much. They helped him see larger scenarios better but little details were still hard for him including the words in most books, which was really starting to scare him.

He depended on reading for a lot of things. It was his main source of learning new information and ultimately it was also required for the job. He had to write reports, go over cases, look for small quirks in behavior.

But right now those things were difficult - almost impossible.

He knew if he told anyone there was a good chance he’d be fired. The FBI rarely kept agents with permanent disabilities for it was inconvenient and he understood why. They needed people who could focus fully on something with no problem. 

It was that realization that made Reid realize there was no way he could tell anybody about this. He would keep it a secret for as long as he could. Or until somebody finally picked up on the changes he was exhibiting.

—

“The latest victim was Dakota Roberts in Atlanta,” JJ stood up near the screen with Garcia, who was flipping through the photos as needed. The first photo was of Dakota Roberts as she usually was; smiling and bright-eyed. “She was found outside in her backyard with seven stab wounds.” 

Reid stared hard at the screen. Dakota Roberts from his end just looked like a blob of black hair and pale skin. 

The photos changed to pictures of the crime scene. Reid could piece together the details for the most part from a mix of the information he’d been given and colors. She was laid out in her grassy backyard, blood pooled around her. Her clothes were ripped and several stab wounds littered her body.

Rossi gestured at the screen thoughtfully. “The wounds are very specific.”

With that, Garcia zoomed in on the wounds and looked away all at once. She would never be okay with looking at such gruesome photos. JJ touched her arm, a quiet signal, and Garcia scurried out of the room. Once she was gone, JJ looked at Rossi. “Just like with the last three victims Dakota was stabbed in both her arms and legs, and once in her chest, stomach, and head.”

Reid could barely make out the wounds and their specific locations, his eyes narrowed. “It seems like the placement of the wounds definitely has some kind of significance then.”

“Maybe he has wounds of his own in the same spots,” Morgan offered.

“If that’s true,” JJ started, lifting a curious eyebrow, “won’t it be pretty easy to find him?” She had a point. Anyone with those many obvious wounds - or even scars - would surely stand out in a crowd.

Hotch cleared his throat. “I guess we’ll have to find out.”

—

Riding on the plane had become a nightmare. With his eyesight giving out, Reid couldn’t read as much as he wanted. Without his books, he got bored very fast. Sleeping was an option but that only worked sometimes.

Right now he was wide awake, staring blankly at the empty seat across from him. Finally after what seemed like a decade he heard Hotch call for everyone to gather around the table.

Reid stood up and headed for the table, completely missing the bag sitting in the walkway. His foot collided with the tote, surprising him, and he was thrown forward with a pained groan.

His knee crashed against the floor of the airplane and it  _wasn’t_ soft.

Before he could even register what was happening, Morgan was at his side along with Hotch. Rossi focused on picking up the bag and tossing it onto one of the seats.

“You okay, kid?” Morgan asked, settling a hand on his shoulder.

Hotch immediately looked at his knee. “Can you stand?”

Great. He was doing a great job of being discreet. He’d missed an obvious bag blocking the walkway. Reid shifted, sitting back on his butt. His knee ached but he forced a smile through the pain. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Neither of them looked entirely convinced but they didn’t necessarily have the time to be worrying over it. Hotch nodded and patted his back before standing up. “I had Garcia look for any connections between the four victims. I told her we’d call around now.”

Reid breathed out, grasping one of the seats for support as he stood up. Morgan eyed him for a long moment before finally sitting down again, leaving the spot next to him available for the doctor, who graciously took it.

Once Rossi had joined them, Hotch fixed the tablet into a standing position and quickly called Garcia. 

“Hello, sweet’ems,” Garcia singsonged, pausing when she saw the camera was pointed directly at Hotch, who looked not at all amused with her nickname. “Where’s my big cup of hot chocolate?”

Morgan shifted the position of the webcam some, flashing a toothy smile. “I’m right here, baby girl, now please tell us you’ve found something connecting our four victims.”

She glanced at the files on her screen, her nails tapping away at her keyboard knowingly. “Nothing jumped out at first,” Garcia began, “but I did eventually find _something_ \- though I don’t know how helpful it will be.” She stopped her typing and continued, staring at the webcam now. “They were all pretty different. The first victim was a popular type, worked at a cafe. The second victim wasn’t. She usually stayed at home by herself, apparently had an obsession with cats. The third victim was kind of a mix of the two. Quiet but got along with others pretty well if given the chance. And our last victim was just almost nonexistent.” She pursed her lips. “But they did have one thing in common - they all recently dropped out of the same university, Georgia State University.”

Reid blinked some. Focusing so hard on Garcia had strained his eyes a bit too much. He could feel the beginning of a headache. 

“That’s definitely odd,” Morgan mumbled before turning his attention back on the woman who’d given them the information. “Thanks, sweet thing, we’ll call you again later.” She nodded, and he clicked off the webcam. 

Morgan leaned back in his seat, the leather squeaking, and folded his hands together over his stomach. “Maybe he’s targeting dropouts for some reason.”

“If he is it’s likely he’s a dropout himself,” Reid said, ignoring the throbbing in his temple for the moment. “He might be taking out his anger on these women because he sees his own failures in them.”

Hotch nodded along with his words. He pulled out his phone and began typing. “I’ll text Garcia and tell her to look for any males who recently dropped out of GSU in the past ten years.”

Once he was finished typing the message, he put away his phone and went back to looking through the information surrounding the case. Rossi did the same. Morgan tugged on his headphones before ultimately following by example. Reid tried looking over the files but with his pounding headache it just made everything worse.

His lips formed a tight line and he just stared blankly at the words before him, hoping nobody would pick up on the fact he wasn’t actually reading. But as he had honestly expected that didn’t happen. 

He  _was_ in a plane with people trained in profiling, which made hiding stuff kind of difficult.

Morgan gently touched his arm and he glanced up, closing the folder in his lap. “What’s up?”

“Listen, I might just be - “ Morgan waved his hand dismissively, pulling his headphones off his head. “Look, you’ve seemed really off lately.” Reid tightly grasped the folder. “I want you to know if something is wrong you can tell me.”

Reid forced a smile, relaxing his grip on the folder. “I’m fine.” When Morgan still looked suspicious despite his words, Reid lifted the folder into his line of view. “Let’s just focus on the case, okay?”

Morgan sighed, glancing back at his tablet with furrowed brows. He knew something had been bothering the genius recently and he  _was_ going to find out what. Just maybe not right now.


End file.
